Team news

Iron to wait over Hooper Scunthorpe will make a late decision on leading scorer Gary Hooper ahead of their crunch clash with bottom-of-the-table Peterborough.

The former Southend striker has missed the last three games with a groin injury and was unable to train again on Monday but boss Nigel Adkins will monitor his fitness on the day of the game.

If Hooper, who will have an injection on Wednesday, is ruled out then Adkins could play winger Garry Thompson alongside Paul Hayes in attack once again after he scored in Saturday's win against Plymouth.

Midfielder Josh Wright did not feature against the Pilgrims due to a bruised toe and it is not yet known how long he will be out for.

Defenders David Mirfin and Marcus Williams recovered from groin injuries to play at the weekend and came through the game unscathed.

Skipper Cliff Byrne serves the third game of a five-match suspension, while Ian Morris (knee) also remains on the sidelines.

Peterborough boss Jim Gannon has defensive problems ahead of the trip.

Wales international centre-half Craig Morgan missed the 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday with an ankle injury and is still struggling so on-loan Wolves right-back Mark Little will continue to fill in.

Record signing Ryan Bennett is another defensive casualty as he recovers from an ankle injury of his own so Gabriel Zakuani will play alongside Little.

Midfielder Lee Frecklington is out with a knee injury while strikers Izale McLeod and Aaron Mclean are also sidelined with knee injuries.

Gannon's side have lost their last two games to slip 10 points adrift of safety and have eight games remaining to stage a remarkable escape.

Scunthorpe vs Peterborough

Last modified 17:44 21/04/10

Iron too hot for poor Posh Scunthorpe took a big step towards survival in the Coca-Cola Championship with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over bottom-of-the-table Peterborough.

Having already come from behind to beat Plymouth on Saturday, they beat a Posh side who are already resigned to relegation thanks to goals from Paul Hayes, Garry Thompson, who scored twice, and Sam Togwell.

The Iron were without 13-goal top scorer Gary Hooper (groin), while Kenny Milne made his first start in 19 months.

Posh made two changes with Lee Frecklington and Reuben Reid coming in.

The home side made a positive start and their first clear opportunity came with seven-and-a-half minutes gone.

Marcus Williams played Thompson into the penalty area but Peterborough goalkeeper Joe Lewis came racing out of his goal, put his body on the line, and made a brilliant block.

But the opener arrived in 15th minute when Grant McCann pinched the ball from the dithering Frecklington.

A neat little interchange of passes involving McCann and Matt Sparrow saw Hayes emerge with the ball on the right-hand side of the box.

The Scunthorpe frontman briefly looked up before thumping the ball home from a tight angle for his 11th goal of the season.

The hosts were clearly dominating and scored a deserved second in the 25th minute.

Hayes picked the ball up in midfield and quickly threaded the ball through for Thompson who had missed a similar chance earlier in the game.

But on this occasion he showed great pace, shrugged off the challenge of Mark Little and with Lewis out in no-man's land, clipped the ball beyond him.

Togwell added a superb third in the 44th minute when he was given far too much time on the ball. He drove at the defence and knocked a well-aimed shot towards goal.

Lewis was far too slow in getting down and after taking one bounce on the greasy surface, the ball struck the post and finished up in the back of the net.

The second half started slowly and home winger Martyn Woolford was withdrawn when he picked up a knock.

The visitors did improve, with Charlie Lee heading over and Exodus Geohaghon flashing a shot narrowly wide of the left-hand post just shy of the hour mark.

McCann stung the palms of Lewis before Thompson helped himself to his second goal of the night in the 64th minute.

Hayes collected the ball on the edge of the penalty area and slipped an inviting ball behind the Peterborough defence for Thompson, who fired the ball hard and low across Lewis and into the bottom left corner.